Training – FasterSkier

Smooth Transitions: Moving Wisely From Pavement To Snow

Ned DowlingNovember 15, 2024

Our bodies are very good at adapting to change, as long as it comes slowly enough. That first frosty day in autumn always feels brutally cold. Take the same temperature in March and we’re in shorts and short sleeves. Our response to exercise load is no different. Taken as a slow and progressive build up, our bodies will respond with increased strength and capacity to stay on the right side of the load vs tolerance...

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5 Activation Exercises To Get You Ready for Any Workout

Julia KernOctober 15, 2024

From a young age, my track coach insisted that we did a thorough dynamic warm-up before starting any training session to activate the right muscles and avoid injury. I have my track coach to thank for teaching me this at a young age. Especially as I get older, my daily activation exercises are crucial in keeping injuries at bay and getting my body warmed up before the “warm up”. For me, the challenge is...

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The Old Man and the Lake: A Skier Swims Across the Mackinac Straits. Part II

Ken RothSeptember 9, 2024

In Part one of The Old Man and the Lake, our reporter shared his story about dealing with the sudden onset of chronic illness; how time, persistence, and swimming helped him regain his athletic life, and the odyssey of swimming across the Mackinac Straits. In part two, the story continues with his ongoing swimming saga post bridge swim, and the lessons learned about goal setting and the reality of dealing with disappointing outcomes. Next up...

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Lessons in Process Goals

Ned DowlingAugust 19, 2024

I think Jessie Diggins has taught the world many things. Maybe it’s how to find your grit and accept the pain while you push your body to new limits. Maybe it’s a better understanding of eating disorders, where to find help, and knowing you’re not alone. Or maybe it’s the art of applying face glitter on race day. I’ve learned a bit about all of those things (when Jessie says you’re getting glittered, you’re getting...

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Running From Injury

Ned DowlingJuly 24, 2024

For better or worse the old cliche, ski racers are made in the summer still applies. Cross country runners are made in the summer too. Conveniently, running is excellent training for skiers and obviously runners. Inconveniently, there tend to be a lot of injuries associated with running. And even more inconveniently, we don’t have a ton of research to tell us why or what to do about it. The clearest correlation to running related injury...

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Go Sideways for Strong Skating Hips

Ned DowlingJune 13, 2024

One of the beauties of skate skiing for the recreational athlete is that it gets us out of the straight line, sagittal plane motion that is so common with walking, running, and cycling. But this also poses a challenge for those of us who don’t rollerski in the summer: How do we stay conditioned for skate skiing’s lateral motion when there’s no snow on the ground? Fortunately, there’s a long list of exercises that will...

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Spring Forward: Part II

John TeafordMay 7, 2024

Ask most endurance athletes what quality they’d like to develop in their sport, and many would say “I want to be stronger.” Ironic, then, because “stronger” means different things to different athletes. To one, it means durable: able to withstand continued stresses and discomforts. To another, it means powerful: able to generate greater force in less time. To still another, it means actually stronger: able to move a heavier weight (regardless of the speed of the movement)....

Dryland Feature News Training

Summer Training: Purposeful, Productive, and a Little Fun

Jason KaskMay 2, 2024

Returning to training after a spring hiatus means laying out a plan for the upcoming training season. In making such a plan, there are a couple of questions that will help to define how the season should go: – Early season dryland training: what should early season training prioritize? And how much of a “break” do you advise taking after the ski season concluded? – Early season roller skiing: how early is too early? What...

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Spring Forward: Part I

John TeafordApril 26, 2024

Spring is nice, spring is fun, spring is a relief after a long, cold winter. But, for diehard skiers, spring is also the new season in which we begin imagining ourselves as next year’s skiers. The snow is barely gone, but already we’re imagining futures in which we glide through snowy meadows, double pole across the flats, charge confidently up homologated uphills, and V2 boldly across finish lines. Our heads are already in next season....

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FasterSkier At The Movies: The Best Cross-Country Ski Movie Ever?

Ken RothApril 22, 2024

Warning: This review contains lengthy passages of unrestrained gushing. Is it possible that the best movie ever made about cross-country skiing doesn’t have a single scene which was filmed on snow? The answer is a decided yes. Because that movie is “A to B Roller Ski,” and it shatters the ceiling for what a movie about cross-country skiing can be. Moving, inspiring, authentic, pure, poetic, and beautiful, ‘A to B Roller Ski’ tells the story...

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Snow Mountain Ranch Gets a Late-Season Boost

Alex KochonMarch 20, 2024

FasterSkier has been fortunate to have the support of Snow Mountain Ranch for many years now. If you are looking to extend your ski season we hope you will consider visiting our friends at Snow Mountain Ranch. If you’re a kid in Granby or Winter Park, Colo., snow days aren’t a thing—until last Thursday, March 13. According to Mary Ann Degginger, the program director at Snow Mountain Ranch, students in the East Grand School District...

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How the Heck Do You Actually Get Better?

Luke JagerFebruary 2, 2024

You’ve plateaued? What’s the deal? Is it insufficient rest; is it that you peaked too early; is it that you need to train harder? There is an article, Facebook post, podcast, YouTube video, and probably a thousand other forms of media dedicated to figuring out just about every component of training. So, with all this information available, why do so many athletes face such an uphill battle to reach their goals? From amateur to elite,...

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An Ode to the Big Toe

Ned DowlingJanuary 14, 2024

The big toe is called the big toe because it’s bigger than the other toes. It has bigger bone and muscle structure because it takes more load. When we walk and run, we are programmed to get the big toe on the ground. But how and when we get the big toe to the ground can cause problems. Too much, too soon, too late, or too fast and efficiency suffers. When efficiency decreases, loads...

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Aker Daehlie: A Measured Approach

Jason KaskJanuary 12, 2024

Sophia Laukli’s dominant win in the final stage of the Tour de Ski catapulted her into the spotlight. She has been racing fast for a while, but this result was on another level from her past performances. As the world gets to know her better, it’s interesting to look at the training philosophy of her club, Aker Daehlie. Training is sometimes secretive, but Aker Daehlie puts their training philosophy online for all to see. This...

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Learning From the World’s Best

Luke JagerDecember 27, 2023

It’s fun to watch athletes who are the best in the world at what they do. Whether it’s Jakob Ingebrigsten floating his way to a sub 3:30 1500m, Jessie Diggins soloing 20km for an Olympic medal, or Jonas Vingegaard riding away from the best cyclists in the world, we can’t help but be captivated by what these superstars are capable of doing. We hear stories about the grueling work that elite athletes put in day...

Dryland Feature News Training

In Good Standing—Fundamental Elements of Ski Stance

Ned DowlingOctober 20, 2023

“Big motor, lousy suspension.” That’s how I often describe the endurance athletes I see in physical therapy. They have the physiology to go fast but are lacking the stability and/or coordination for efficient movement. Decreased efficiency equals increased load. And excessive load has led to injury and a visit to their friendly, neighborhood PT. I used the same description while Greta Anderson, the US Cross Country Development Coach, and I stood trackside last August watching...

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Strong Skiers—Skiing and Resistance Training

Jason KaskAugust 16, 2023

Cross country ski trails—and the grooming strategies that prepare those trails for race events—have changed dramatically in recent seasons, especially since artificial snow became commonplace at Nordic venues. Commensurately, skiing speeds have increased, and so has the reliance on upper body power for propulsion. This has been most visible in classic skiing where technique zones are put in place down to the junior level to ensure that striding remains part of the sport. These changes...

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Injuries are Inevitable

Ned DowlingJuly 24, 2023

Injuries are inevitable . . . As a physical therapist, I am often preaching prevention through maintenance exercises and training strategies; however, despite very well intended plans, injuries can still happen. Some of these will be short term, quite manageable, and maybe just a product of bad luck. Other injuries are longer lasting, will likely require some medical management, and are certain to impact training, whether from an acute trauma or from symptoms that have...

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Training When There’s Nothing to Train For

Ned DowlingJune 23, 2023

Most conversations regarding training for endurance sports center on competition: the training schedule is built around the races. But what if you don’t compete? What if you’re out there on the ski trails, bike trails, and hiking trails without a race number? What if your objective is not to podium but to simply enjoy the opportunity to push your body? Is there still a reason to “train” when there isn’t a competition to train for?...

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Smoke in the Sky—Air Quality Guidelines for Training

Ned DowlingMay 22, 2023

Author’s disclaimer: I am not a chemist nor atmospheric scientist, but as a physical therapist who tries to think of the body holistically (and as an endurance athlete living and training in a region prone to bad air quality), I have done my best to research this topic. For greater detail, please consult a true expert in the field. The air we breathe is precious. Whether simply sustaining life functions or powering the aerobic metabolism...

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